zhie | Oct. 17th, 2004

Not really, really work. Playtime work.

Have two hours before Mark gets off of work, and then off to shop for this and that for the conference next weekend, and also cruise the downtown to know where the hotel is.

I hate driving downtown.

Anyhow, I have a different mission planned this morning...

Operation Redeem Self

It goes a little something like this.

So, the MPA awards finally closed for voting. I have six, ranging through the placings. You all know I was seriously pimping Silver and Gold, and for much of the time until the very end, it was going quite well, as were the Purple Bunnies, actually.

And though I think of myself first as a humorist and second as a slasher when writing, I hit nothing and third with those categories.

I'm still proud of S&G and PPBs, award or no. PPB, that's a group effort, really, and I love them, and that's what branched off into so many other things and created so many characters. I wrote the bridge between S&G and the sequel, but don't expect that anytime soon... S&G took something like ten months to write, and since I can build a bunny in a couple hours, that's a long time for me. I'm not going to skimp on it, so ETA for Eagle and Dove is June 2005.

Back to the MPAs... quick run down... some of these were ties, but I'm just doing this from memory...

Glorfindel's Quest - 3rd place for G rated (This is cool, because Monty drew the picture that inspired this one)

Lord Orophin - 3rd place for PG rated (Both Monty and Maggie helped with this one, AND my brother helped to inspire some of what happened in this, so it was very cool that this did so well, especially in this category, and also because it's a sequel to Wake Up Call)

One Word - 3rd place for unusual pairing (That was the second one with Erestor and Galadriel, which I think did awesome for something with no actual sex in it and lots of reference to the Silmarillion, especially since it's not het, and not slash, but bi by the time you get to the epilogue.)

Journey to Valinor - 2nd place for Mary Sue (I just can't believe I won something in a Mary Sue category... this is too funny... and it's all thanks to Joan and a dream she had that turned into this reinvented self-insert universe. It's such fun to write, it's like having a cool lego building, and then realizing it's also good if you take some stuff off this side and put it there and add these other pieces, and now you have an awesome space ship or something)

Silver and Gold - 3rd place (tied) for Slash (and it tied with Finding Namo, which I'm happy about because I went into this figuring I stood no chance against it [yes against other fics, no against Finding Namo... I read very little, but I do read this when I have a chance. Just like with MGM, I knew it would get more votes than whatever I had against it] And it didn't get more votes, but it just baffled me that other stuff in this category suddenly shot ahead only days before the end. Oh well, that's okay, even if it had come in dead last, I still love it and that's what counts. And the muses would have been happy, too... heck, they've really come a long way since then. Just want a couple weeks until Exotic Erestor hits the glorlovestorfqf )

Finally... the award I did not deserve...

Yuletide - 1st place Holiday category

This is my final rant against my own piece. I promise not to bitch anymore after this.

This should not have won, it should not have placed.

I voted for All's Fair in Love and War. Sure, it's a Mary Sue story, BUT, it actually revolved around Valentine's Day and how the elves would react to it. And it was cowritten with seven others. And I spent so many, many hours working on it.

And I'm convinced, had I not said, 'sure, what the hell' when Emmi put out the call for doing this... I wouldn't be good friends with a group I am now, I wouldn't have really met Idhrenwen and learned all kinds of interesting things about German culture and how to really cowrite things with someone whose first language isn't English, and I wouldn't have developed the Canary or the Swan, because there would have been nothing to base that on had I not said 'I'll be the homewrecker of Lorien', and I never would have really met Mei.

Nope, not really. Somehow we got to talking on IM or through an email about the story. I think she sent an email, and she and Mary and a few others were the only ones reading it, and so I IMed her and we started talking.

And talking.

And TALKING.

And talking about cheesecake, and custard, and elves.

Like Maggie and Monty, she's one of my real life muses.

She gave Ress and Fin physical form when she drew them for me.

My writing (from what I can see and tell) changed drastically. For the better.

And, All's Fair is one HELL of a story.

You know what, actually, it's not a story. It's an adventure. There's so much more to it for it to just be a story.

It should have gotten more votes than Yuletide.

But what should, and did, kick Yuletide's ass was the Twelf Days of Yule.

I waited up until my eyes hurt those days before Christmas (and especially, I think it was Christmas Eve, it was late, or maybe the 23rd, I don't remember), constanting refreshing the oh so familiar Vanilla Elf page until I saw the next ficlet. I did this while writing the presents to be found at the FHH, hoping what I was doing would be seen by at least a quarter of the audience I'm sure was being drawn in.

Yuletide should not have won. I feel badly about that. Mine was slapped together from a silly idea. It's a sequel to something that NEVER got written, so not all of it is understandable, in my opinion.

The last thing I was thinking last night was 'I shouldn't have won this category'.

The first thing I thought of this morning was 'It's really hot in here, I should take my socks off'

And then around fifth or sixth thing was about these awards again.

Well... okay...

So here's what I'm going to do... to make myself feel better at least...

Yuletide needs to be revised. Somehow. Someway.

That's on today's todo list.

I'm very, very happy so many people enjoyed it. Please don't think I'm ungrateful. I just feel really bad for the others that I think really should have won. It's like the actor who gets an award for directing because they want to give them an award, but somehow it just keeps missing, but then some really awesome director gets passed by.

I can say this because that is the ONLY category where I read EVERY SINGLE fic in it.

Thank you so much to those who voted and nominated and supported and everything else. I enjoyed myself over the last month, and I'm still working on stuff for the ceremony, and hope to see everyone on the 31st.

This is so screwy, though. I just realized I'm presenting that category with the Swan. Well, should make the presentation even more interesting...

Cross your fingers and let's see what I can do with my legos.

That is all. Until next time, I remain,

-Zhie, off to make some fake chicken nuggets and wake the muses...